D-Max Is Now The Best Selling Pickup Truck In Thailand.
Thailand is one of the world’s biggest markets for pickup trucks because the Thai government imposes very low tax on trucks over passenger cars, this is why it is called the pickup truck capital of Asia. For the longest time, the Isuzu D-Max was the top selling pickup truck in Thailand until 2018 when the current selling Toyota Hilux arrived and took the top position.
The reason was simple; the previous Isuzu D-Max was more a reliable and trusty workhorse but with little lifestyle elements included. Toyota on the other hand had listened to the needs of buyers and gave their Hilux lifestyle features whilst still being a true workhorse. The best of both worlds.
Isuzu, being a truck only company, was not going to stay in second place. Isuzu launched a brand new D-Max in October 2019 with a price starting from THB 510,000 to THB 1,160,000.
Isuzu took a long 8-years to evolve their top selling product and even though they are late to the lifestyle truck segment (Ford Ranger was the first and followed closely by the Mitsubishi Triton, Mazda BT-50 and Nissan Navara) they have taking a big leap forward with this 2020 model D-Max.
New vehicle sales in Thailand were down -21.4 percent year-on-year in 2020 (obviously because of Covid-19) to 792.146 units vs. 1.007.552 in 2019, this is the lowest tally since the 768.788 units of 2016.
Thailand Automotive Institute (TAI) anticipates the overall output from Thailand’s automotive sector this year to be around 1.4 million cars. They are, however, still cautious over automobile exports until at least March this year, due to the resurgence of COVID-19 cases around the world.
So, currently, the no.1 selling vehicle in Thailand is the 2018 leader, the Isuzu D-Max and it is the all new version pictured here and it is holding a growing 17.3 percent market share, with 119.002 units sold YTD (-13.3 percent).
The Toyota Hilux loses the crown in November after being the leader for 2 years in a row. Indeed, the Hilux still holds 17.1 percent of the market share which is almost 2 percent more than last year, with 117.57 units sold (-19.2 percent).
In the sixth position, the current Ford Ranger has already been in the market for some 4 years and needs a new model to bring its demand back up. It moves down 3 spots with 22.722 units (-46.5 percent) but still is managed to stay ahead of the Mitsubishi Triton which sold 21.194 units (-36.4 percent)
Thailand is right now the largest car manufacturer in the ASEAN Region and 11th in the world with 23 car assembly plants, 8 motorcycle plants, 386 tier-one auto parts makers, and 1700 tier-two and tier-three auto parts manufacturers. The automotive industry in Thailand employs over 850,000 people with automotive product exports worth a staggering 950 billion baht (during 2018) according to the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
The automotive sector is a major driver of the Thai economy contributing to about 10-12 percent of the GDP with a strong infrastructure and vast network of small and large, local and foreign companies encompassing the entire car-production supply chain.
